David's journey to becoming king was a long and arduous one. After facing many challenges and much opposition, in 2 Samuel 5 David finally reigns over all Israel and Judah (2 Samuel 5:1-5).
After such a long journey, when the victory finally comes, it is only human nature to want to celebrate, relax, and stand easy.
Yet, this was not the case for David.
We can see two instances of how David continued to carry out the will of God even after he was victorious.
Continued to fight for God
We usually desire to take a break and rest when we are victorious. But David was different.
The first record of David after becoming king is to conquer Jerusalem, the only city left that the tribe of Judah were unable to drive out (Joshua 15:63).
We can see that David was truly a man after the heart of God, doing what he knew for certain was in line with the will of God.
And as a result, in 2 Samuel 5:12, we see that God exalted His kingdom, and David was reaffirmed that God had established him as king over Israel.
As Christian soldiers we ought to go forth and preach to conquer the hearts of man. At the same time, we ought to spiritually nurture ourselves and conquer any remaining sin and evil desires within us.
This is a lifelong journey, one that we must always endeavour in even after victory.
Continued to seek after God
In the second part of 2 Samuel 5 talks about David battling the Philistines.
In this instance, we see David twice inquiring of God, first in 2 Samuel 5:19 and again in 2 Samuel 5:23.
Interestingly, in the first case God tells him to go up to battle, for He will doubtless deliver the Philistines into David's hand. David proclaims that God has broken through his enemies before him, like a breakthrough of water (2 Samuel 5:19-20).
Yet later when the Philistines came to attack again, God tells him to not go up directly to battle. Rather, he was to circle around them and attack them from behind (2 Samuel 5:22-24).
Even though David was faced with the same situation twice, yet he was still cautious and chose to pray and inquire of God.
When we are successful, it is easy to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to, causing us to rely on our own ways and means rather than seek after God. The longer we serve God, the easier it also becomes for us to rely on our past experiences and "wisdom", rather than inquire of God.
Regardless of what achievements we may have, or how successful our past church work might be, may we learn from David to always faithfully inquire and seek after the will of God.
Reflection questions:
When our lives are smoothsailing, when we are on a "spiritual high", do we easily fall into complacency and let our guard down?
How can we remind ourselves to continue to seek and do the will of God at all times?
